Winding it up

Mileage that is in preperation for the 50K in Portumna. Started once I cleared the 7 days antibiotic prescription with 65 Miles and two key sessions. 7 miles at HMP and a planned 4 * 5K MP loops on the Royal Canal Marathon. I only managed top complete 3 as the legs go very tired on the fourth rep. Needing to be in good shape for pacing Limerick the next week I backed off the last rep early. The run in Longford was another good event but you would expect no less from Brendan Doyle.

Going Solo

Due to unforseen circumstances my fellow pacer Paul was unable to be my partner in crime pacing 4 hours in Limerick and it ended up me doing the gig solo. I would be lying if I was a little bit nervous doing this for the 4 hour band but clearly the boss had the utmost confidence in me. I had this band last year and it was my third time pacing Limerick. At the start meet with Lizzie again, I think it was her third time in my pace group for Limerick. We had quite a big group form the start and lost a good chunk of time at the start, i didnt panic as the section from Limerick to UL is downhill so its easy to pick back up the time. Went through halfway in 1:59:41. The second half was a new course again but finally I think they have this part of the course got right. I thought that the congection of half coming against us on the out and back along Rosbrien road would be an issue but it wasnt in the slightest. We meet the the start of the half on this section and runners kept to there own sides. Shortly after this we hit the drag up to punches at which point the group discentigrated. I had taken it very easy to try and get as many up as the city section is normally quicker. We passed the 20 mile marker down 30 second but I stil only had a handful of runners. From there to the finish it was a matter of getting those home. Five of the group managed it. Some had hit for home early and where not seen again while others got caught and passed. Nothing you can do as a pacer other then a small bit of gentle encouragment and keep the pace as steady as possible. Crossed the line in 3:59:25 one second slower then last year. Job done.

Number 25

Celebration time in the Geogre for Paula and Desmond recieving their 25th Marathon medals. Not only that but time to congragulate Paula on smashing her PB the week before in Dusseldorf. I quered her about the guy with the balloon who finished with her, so she told me the tale of the 4 Hour Pacer cutting the course and finishing just behind her in 3:56 ish.

Back to Ballybeg

Hill trainig Ballybeg Woods, I do a 1 mile loop with three hills, One long one 400m and 2 very short steep ones (with hand rails). Six reps at 10K effort was the plan, on the last short one of the fourth loop my legs where like jelly so I canned the last 2. Didnt feel disappointed in not finishing the last 2 as this is always a toughie and with 2 marathons in the previous 2 weeks in the legs its best not to totally trash them. Took it easy over the weekend with 9 & 13 at steady pace. Sunday run was harder due to the unexpected clammy day and tempatures in the low 20’s and the hills around Thurles while the young fella and his mates watched the Banner rob Waterford of the League title. Intention was to do it at 8:15 (planned pace for 50K)but under the conditions it ended up been a little over 8:30. Mileage for the week 81 biggest week ever.

Overdue

A little guilty of not writing here in a while. Have been meaning to post but things like work have got in the way. After the initial disappointment in Boston I have now come full circle and realised (with the help of some respected runners) that it was a pretty good showing. Buoyed by this I have now got the bug for racing back big time and have every intention of improving over all distances and ultimately an Autumn Marathon. This will preferably be Frankfurt but work situation may dictate Dublin. Regardless of which one to achieve the times I want I have to put in the work. I am going to take a new approach instead of P&D this time. P&D has got me in fabulous shape aerobically but on the last 2 marathon cycles my leg strength was my downfall. This could be due to tired legs or not enough sessions that are specific to the race itself. The basic outline between now and October will be as follows. Between now and end of June I am doing long slow with some very fast short work. Will attack 4 mile and 5K races in this period. July and August I will up the pace of the long runs and increase the distance of the intervals. A few 10K, 10 Miles races thrown in. At the end of August I hope to race a half fresh and then 6 weeks of mainly Marathon Paced workouts and long runs. A Canova type program but I will have to water down the sessions somewhat to suit my ability.

GPS Accuracy

Since Boston I have paced 2 Marathons @ 4 hour pace Limerick and Killarney National Park. Limerick was a straight  forward pacing job but Killarney required me to dust down my good old foot pod as the race has a good section of it covered in trees. Anyway both races paced to the usual standard even though I did get a slap on the wrist for losing my balloon in Killarney. I had brought my cheap Soleus GPS as a backup to Killarney but was mostly ignoring it as I was sure it would come up short. At the end to my surprise it showed roughly the same distance as Limerick while all the more expensive Garmin's all came up short. As can be seen below both Limerick (left) and Killarney came up roughly the same maybe the Soleus GPS range is a bit more reliably in not losing satellite connection even in wooded areas.

Cool Runnings Not

Prelude

Normal activity on day before race pacing is to man the pacing stand at the Expo. As I live local it is only fitting that we do it and allow the out of town guys to get their bearings around Limerick. Arrived mid afternoon so that I could have a quick stroll around and pick up a few bits and pieces  A lot of the stands were of no interest to me so I picked up some Zym tubes and headed into the registration area. Meet with Tom who was none the best for wear and tear after his special Birthday Celebrations the night before. Stand was very quiet but we were kept busy sorting out the pacers goodie bags and running gear. There was some errors which we thought we had rectified. Other pacers arrived around five and collected stuff, general bit of chit chat and my duties were finished for the day.

Race Day

Hit in to Limerick early to get parking close to baggage drop area and give Paul his pacing gear. All the other pacers were decked out in their gear except one of the ladies ended up with a male medium  while the vest will make a nice dress for her I don't think she will ever have use for shin length running shorts. Mathew one of my fellow pacers showed his artistic flare on the Pacer balloons but was not so good in holding on to them. He had already lost two and we had not even left the building. 

After a precise pacing strategy briefing from Brianderunner Niall a quick warm up run to the start to take up our allocated positions. Meet three locals at the start Cathy who was borderline 2 Hour, Rosie and her husband Michael.  Rosie should have been with the 1:50 group and this was Michael's first run and I felt he should have dropped back. They all decided that they were going to get on our bus. With a few minutes to go Karen the third member of our team got the the portaloo feeling. Luckily she was able to pull rank and get to the top of the queue. 
All set and we were off, first two miles where not that congested so Nialls work on getting us in the right spot seemed to have worked. By mile two we are bang on pace and the mile markers are 2 for 2 in being where they should be. The run through the Raheen roundabout allowed us to meet the 1:50 group on the way in and the mad 2:15 er's on the way out.
It got a bit tight on the section from St Nessans Church to Raheen and back into town. We lost time here about 40 secs or so and Myself and Matthew were shouting out instruction to watch out for bollards and parked cars and the 5 hour marathon pacers which were on our racing line. Then for the second year running I went flying out over one of them, our third member was uncannyingly less vocal, but still there encouraging people along at the tail of the group. Conditions had got quite humid at this stage which was probably going to catch a lot of our group later on.

Another point where we meet other runners is on Sarsfield Bridge, we cheer on some of the marathon finishers when I notice James Liddane from B.M.O.H flying past on his way to a 74 min 3rd place finish in the half. Quite a good day for the club in that respect as we had three top ten finishers in the race, Keith Lynch in 5th and John Hannon 10th overall.   
We had picked back up the time lost earlier as the crowds in the city gave everyone a bit of a lift. At this stage I noticed I had a shadow on my shoulder, Eugene was motoring along very nicely and was still able to talk. We hit the first climbs around Thomond when I noticed Cathy up ahead, kept her and as many as possible going here but the heat and hills were starting to reduce or group very quickly and we dropped her at Mile 11 or so. Got a nice shout out from menoscemo Brian and Joanna on their way into town here and Conor and family at the back of the GAA Grounds. Nice to see fellow runners out to support us along the way. Once we got turn onto the North Circular Road section we had maybe half a dozen left and were starting to pick up some 1:50 runners. I felt sorry for the Marshall trying to get runners to stay on the left of the cones when clearly it was a lot quicker to cut the corner. When you have 11/24 miles under you in a race you are not going to run the long line. The best section of the race is along the North Circular its flat/downhill for the most part. The locals were out in force and a family had rigged a hose for us at the turn about,which was very welcome and much appreciated by all. From here on in it was a matter of trying to keep people going, me and Matthew vocally encouraging others while Karen seemed to have the hand of God. She would place her hand on a runners back as she past and they would immediately start running with us again. Once we hit the bridge those that were still with us went on ahead.
Even my shadow Eugene flew past us on the Bridge as well as Two Clare Crusaders, Finola and her partner. Once we hit O'Connell Street we were alone all our group where well on the way to the finish so we crossed the line in 1:59:28 happy our job was done. We encouraged a few more runners to put in the effort for another 30 seconds. Got our goodie bags, tin foil and mingled with the crowd afterwards. A lot of thank you's and photo opportunities  Cathy came in about 2 minutes later, even though she didn't get her sub 2 time she was still very happy with her days work.

Aftermath

No Chocolate in the goodie bag. Plenty of healthy bars disguising themselves as Chocolate but not the real thing. There was a banana so that's as near a sugar rush as I got. Hung around with Karen and Matthew until the 2:15 pacers came back and we made our way back to the baggage drop off. From there do to the Clarion for some grub and a quick chat with the rest of the crew. Good to see that the 3:30 Marathon Pacers went beyond the call of duty and got one of the gang over as Fourth Lady. 

The Main Man Himself

courtesy of Rory Mooney

Unfortunately I Had to hit away early and didn't even get to meet up with Mr Pat O'Keeffe to congratulate him on his epic achievement of running 100 Marathons. Pat is an inspiration to us all and if we can do a small portion of what he has achieved we will be all the better for it.

99 Red Balloons

Following them Balloons

May Bank Holiday again and I will be lining up at the start of the Great Limerick Run (Half Marathon) with balloon or two on my back. Behind me will be a group of people eager to get under whatever time is on that balloon. Saturday will see me at the Expo Number Pick-up manning the pacer stand and answering questions for runners as to what we actually do on the day. What follows should answer most queries but if it does not then call by the stand tomorrow when collecting your number in the UL Arena and make your enquiry.

• What times are been Paced ?
  For the Marathon Sub 5:00,4:30,4:00,3:45,3:30,3:15 & 3:00
  For the Half Marathon Sub 2:15,2:00,1:50,1:40 & 1:30
  Pacers for each group will aim to finish in 30 or so seconds under their allocated time.
• What Experience do the pacers have ?
  Pacers are drawn from a group of runners on boards.ie, 100 Marathon Club and various Athletics clubs in the Munster region. The majority have paced other events including Dublin Half and Full Marathons, Cork City Marathon, Dingle and Tralee. There will be some virgin pacers but each band will have an experienced pacer running the show.
• How will I find them ?
  The guys and girls in the special commissioned pacer gear with inflatable running aids attached to them (balloons). The faster times will be nearer to the front.
• Where should I start ?
  Very important. Behind the pacer. As times are nett times we set our watches as we cross the start line. Anyone behind us that finishes with a pacer or ahead of a pacer will be guaranteed their time. The same cannot be said for anyone who starts ahead of us.
• Will the pacers bank time early ?
  No. We will endeavour to run every mile at the same pace but this may vary by 10-15 seconds per mile. We will not run fast early to gain time nor would we advise any runner to do this either. Do not worry about the time or pace thats our job. 
• I can't get near the pacer ?
  Certain times will have large groups of runners. The 4 hour Marathon and the 2 hour Half Marathon group can be very big at the start. You do not need to be sitting on our shoulders for the race, the last thing we need to happen is runners to get tripped up and fall which may lead to a DNF. So give one another some space and just stay in the vicinity of the pacer group.
• What will happen at water stations ?
  We will pick up our water and run  through the aid stations. As there will be a group us do not stop/walk at the aid station as it will impede other runners in the group, pick up your water/gel/drink and move on.

Aftermath

At some time on Monday evening you will have got your target time and while your legs hurt you feel good about yourself. Hopefully we will have played a part in making your run one not to forget.

Signed Up

Committed

Entered Portumna Forest Marathon last week. There is nothing like actually paying for something to focus the mind on training. Once I had done this I quickly set about drawing my training/racing schedule between now and then. Now all that is left is to complete it and avoid any major injuries

It never rains but it pours

When I started running 6 years ago, local races where sparse enough on the ground. This year there is a race on locally every weekend between now and Great Limerick Run in May. At the present moment I have only plans to race Adare 10K and pace both Eamon Moloney Memorial 10K (60 minutes) and Great Limerick Run Half Marathon (2 Hours). My main objective is Portumna and getting my Boston Qualifying time which means I may have to bypass a crack at my Ten Mile PB in either Kilnaboy or Pakie Ryan Memorial Run in Newmarket-on-Fergus.  

Running with a crowd

Normally I am rarely out of the bed at this hour of a Saturday let alone running @ 8 A.M. This was the case last week when I had my first run with B.M.O.H. Meet up the crew in the square where 3 hardy boys already had a 6 mile warm up run done. Tipped along at 8:45 pace for the first 5 miles when we split into two groups. The pace picked up a bit from here so I dropped off for a few miles and meet up with them again later in the run as they took a little detour. Finished 13.5 miles in under 2 hours and just usual stiffness in the legs. Good to run in a group like this but my training cycle is 9 days so I will still be doing some long runs solo.


Feburary 6th
          6 Miles 4 mile Tempo @ 7:38 pace, HR 158 with 1 Mile WU/WD

February 9th  
          13.4 Miles Long Run  1:57:12 @ 8:45 pace, HR 145


February 12th  
          7 Miles 5 Miles Tempo 38:51 @ 7:43 pace, HR 152 with 1 Mile WU/WD